Alex ran down towards the hanger, Hank by his side. His mind was racing, and his heart felt like it was in his throat. He'd heard every single one of Hank's words, but he couldn't make any sense of them.
"How can she have radiation poisoning?" he managed to get out, "That...that doesn't make any sense!"
"Alex, I don't know," said Hank, his heavy steps drawing level, "All I know is what the tests showed. Lorna got burned by Scott's powers, but the burn is acting more like a radiation burn than a heat burn, and even then it's unusual."
Alex swallowed.
"But she's alright, right?" he said.
"Well-"
"You said she'd be alright!"
"Keep your voice down," Hank said.
He swallowed again. There weren't many people on the first floor that time of night, but Hank was right. They really couldn't afford to be taking risks, and he would have to remember that in the next few hours.
They turned a corner. Alex knew that Hank was going for the elevator, but it wasn't fast enough. He grabbed his key and unlocked the doors to the stairs. Hank caught the door before it swung closed, slipping in behind him. Their footsteps echoed through the metal corridor.
"You said that everything was fine," Alex said, not looking back at his friend.
"That was when I thought it was a heat burn," said Hank, "And yes, a heat burn would have healed normally. But, like I said, that's not what we're dealing with right now."
Images of Hiroshima flashed through his mind, of napalm being sprayed over what looked like a peaceful jungle. No, it wasn't that bad. Hank wouldn't be talking so calmly if it were that bad, and he wouldn't need Alex to come downstairs with him.
"How is she?" he asked.
"Right now her throat is swelling and, in the past few minutes, she's coughed up blood," Hank said.
"Jesus," murmured Alex.
He picked up his pace, but the stairs seemed to go on forever, no matter how fast he went.
"She stopped a bit ago, and she can breathe fine, but I need to find out what's going on," Hank said, "We're looking at flare-ups at the moment, and I need to know how much more this is going to progress. I need to know what I'm dealing with."
Finally, they reached the end of the staircase. Alex unlocked the door and shoved it open. Inside, Magda was sitting next to Lorna. Lorna's bed had been pushed up so that she was seated. One of her hands was curled up in front of her chest, and Alex could see sweat beading on her forehead.
She gave a weak smile when she saw him.
"Hey," she whispered, her voice raspy.
He came closer, hearing Hank rustle around for something behind him. As he came closer he could see that Lorna was wearing an approximation of a hospital gown, only it was one sleeved. Half of it had clearly been ripped away in a hurry to make sure that the cloth didn't touch her affected skin.
The skin where Scott's powers had touched her was angry and red. Yellowish blisters were forming on the skin, and Alex could have sworn that it was getting bigger. There was a fierce worry in Magda's eyes as she held her daughter's spare hand, one that Alex didn't want to think about.
"Hey," he said, sitting next to her, "Don't try to talk too much. Heard you blew a fuse."
Magda gave him a look, but Lorna chuckled. Alex hesitated before putting his hand on the edge of the bed.
"Don't worry," he said, "Hank's really talented you know. He'll figure this out."
She smiled, and then her eyes turned to the side of the bed. Her mother abandoned her hand and grabbed a small cup with ice chips in it. She put it to Lorna's lips and Lorna used her own hand to steady it. Lorna began sucking on them as Hank came over.
"Okay," he said, "Just need to take some blood from you Alex."
Alex absently held out his arm. There was a tightening of a rope, and Alex knew that he was applying a tourniquet.
"Just you wait," said Alex, "You'll be back to teaching those brats you like so much in no time."
Lorna gave him an amused smile.
"One of those brats is Scott," she said.
Inwardly he sighed with relief. He hadn't thought that Lorna would hold a grudge against his cousin, and by her tone she clearly didn't. It was just nice to have his ideas confirmed every now and then.
"He's an exception," he said.
There was a sting in his arm, and then he felt Hank dabbing at his arm with rubbing alcohol.
"Just let me bandage...oh...what?"
Alex turned to find Hank grinding the heel of his hand into his forehead.
"What's up?" he asked.
"Getting some bad news from Charles," said Hank, "Stop moving."
He applied a large Band-Aid to Alex's arm and turned away. Magda tilted her head slightly, and the ice chips stopped moving around in Lorna's cheeks. Alex knew that all eyes were on Hank now. His friend put the syringe with Alex's blood in it on the table and shook his head.
Alex hoped, nay prayed, that this was just the Brotherhood getting pissy again. He wasn't sure why Magneto thought he had the right to waltz in and demand an audience with Charles whenever he felt like it. This wasn't some sort of business transaction that they could just calmly discuss. Not anymore.
As he watched, Hank slumped, almost as though an invisible hand was pushing him down. He sighed and turned to them.
"We're going to need to move Lorna into the back room," he said.
"Why?" Magda asked.
"I'll explain later," said Hank, "Right now we just need to get her situated. Alex, can you help with the gurney?"
Puzzled, Alex nodded. He grabbed the back of the bed and began pushing it towards the other room.
"Want me to push this really fast and then let go?" he asked.
Lorna chuckled again, but the laughter began to turn into a cough. Worry rose and Alex stopped pushing. He let go of the bed and looked down at Lorna. She swallowed and leaned back, giving him another weak smile.
Even though her mother was in the room, Alex leaned over and gave her a chaste kiss on the forehead. He knew that talking was probably out of the question, especially after that cough. However, he needed to do something to let her know how he felt.
Without another word he began pushing again. He settled the bed against the wall and gave Lorna's hand a squeeze. Seconds later Magda and Hank came in, carrying a tray and an IV. Alex gave Hank a questioning look.
"I thought it would be best to give her plenty of fluids," he said, "I'll apply this quickly. Magda, you have the KI tablets. Give her one of those, as well as a Prussian Blue. I'm not one hundred percent sure about how this radiation works, but hopefully those will help counter any long-term effects."
Shit. Alex hadn't even thought of that. He felt helpless as he watched Hank hook Lorna up to the IV and Magda measure out the tablets. What was he supposed to do?
Alex, I need you to get a bed set up in the front room of the lab. Ask Hank if he needs anything in particular.
He blinked.
Why?
I'll explain in a minute, Charles thought, But you should tell Hank that his second patient should be there in ten minutes.
Sometimes Charles could be annoyingly cryptic. However, Alex turned obediently to Hank. There was nothing else that he could do in that situation, so it might be best just to listen and take things from there.
"Hank, Charles said I should start setting up a second station," he said, "Anything in particular you need there?"
Hank handed him two extra pill bottles.
"Two of each, on a tray, with some water," said Hank, "If I'm not out there when he comes in, have him take those immediately."
"Okay, Charles said he should be here pretty soon," said Alex, heading out.
He paused by the door. Hank and Magda's backs were turned to him, but he knew that Lorna could see him. He gave her a small thumbs-up, which she returned.
"Close the door behind you," Hank said, "I need to talk to Magda and Lorna in private."
Getting more irritated by the second, Alex obediently closed the door and got started on setting up the station. It wasn't difficult: he'd seen Hank do it enough times to know how this sort of thing worked. He decided to put an IV there too, since Hank might want to give this guy fluids. If he was giving him KI tablets and Prussian Blue, then Alex figured he'd had some sort of radiation exposure as well.
Yes, he has, Charles thought, And that's what I need to talk to you about.
Talk away, answered Alex, grabbing one of the standard issue blankets from the closet.
There was a moment's hesitation, and then Charles sighed.
Alex, the other patient is Quicksilver.
He dropped the blanket.
What the hell?
Yes, I rather thought you might say that, Charles thought.
Charles, why are we taking that asshole in? thought Alex, I'm not having him stay down here!
I'm afraid we don't really have a choice.
We always have a choice, Alex shot back, Why the hell are you letting him into the school? He's dangerous.
Not at the moment, thought Charles, Alex...there's no easy way to say this, but do you remember your last fight?
Of course, Alex thought.
He reached down and picked up the blanket, not bothering to fold it back up. If Quicksilver got some hair or dust on him as a result of that drop, then so much the better. He wasn't foolish enough to think that his protests would do any real good after all. Charles had the final say in things, and if he'd decided to give Quicksilver treatment, then there wasn't a damn thing that Alex could do about it.
Except complain. And he was going to be doing plenty of that.
Apparently the burn you gave him on his foot has developed some peculiar features, Charles thought, He's developed a fever, and is also showing signs of sweating and nausea. I've had a brief discussion with Hank in light of Lorna's injury, and he says that these are symptoms of radiation sickness in its later forms.
Alex gripped the blanket tighter.
Charles, my power isn't radiation-based, he thought.
It sounded almost like a plea. Charles had to know that he hadn't meant to do that, hadn't meant to slowly and painfully kill another human being.
That's what we've always thought, Charles thought gently, But I think we may have to reevaluate that in the future.
I only burned his foot because if I gave him a concussive blast it would've sent him upwards at that angle, Alex thought, He would've cracked his damn head open on the catwalk above us, and he's an asshole but I wasn't going to outright murder him-
I understand, Charles thought, But right now we have to establish what's happening to Lorna and Quicksilver, and we have to do so quickly.
Agreed, thought Alex.
He could almost feel the ripple of surprise from Charles, but he meant it. Quicksilver was an asshole, but he wasn't going to let him die of something like radiation poisoning. The goal had been to put him in prison, not the morgue. If he ended up in the morgue as a result of a fight, than that was a side affect. This seemed different.
Besides, Quicksilver might give Hank more insight as to what was happening. The more insight he had, the better chance he had of helping Lorna.
